commemorating chopin

Chopin’s masterpieces successfully stood the test of time.

The composer Frederic Chopin
and his works have special
meaning for two countries,
France and Poland. He was one
of the greatest composers of
the Romantic music. He has strong influenced
upon other famous composers such as Robert
Schumann, Franz Liszt, and Johanes Brahms.

Chopin was born in Poland on March 1st, 1810.
His father was a French expatriate while his
mother was Polish. When he was seven years
old, he had given public concerts, as well as
composing some of his first works. As a child
prodigy, he was compared to Mozart and
Beethoven.

The unstable political situation in Poland was
one of the reasons that made
him leave the country and
move to Paris, France in
1831. There he made acquaintance
with many artists
as well as compose his
greatest works. It was also in France that he
met his muse, George Sand. Chopin died of a
grave illness on October 17th, 1849. His body
was buried int the Pere Lachaise cemetery in
Paris.

Commemorating Chopin’s 200 years anniversary,
the Polish and France Embassy in Indonesia,
held a special occasion. An extraordinary
piano concert was held in Gedung Kesenian
Jakrta in March 10, 2010. Three great pianists,
Dana Ciocarlie representing France, Adam Makowicz
representing Poland and Ary Sutedja
representing Indonesia, perform consecutively
on one stage.

Dana Ciocarlie opened the show. The Rumanian
Pianist play several songs from Chopin’s
dance compositions. Such as Rondeau ala Mazur,
Three Mazurkas 59, and Polonaisie Fantasie.
The performance given by the woman who
had won many international piano competition,
impressed the audience. The second performance
was given by the Indonesian pianist, Ary Sutedja featuring the cellist, Asep Hidayat.

The most impressive performance was given
out by Adam Makowicz. The Polish-Canadian
pianist performs Chopin’s work reinterpreted in
Jazz. In his performance the work such as Faintasie
Impromptu Opus 66, Prelude #4 Opus 28
sounded like a brand new composition. “ You
probably would not recognize, which work of
Chopin I was playing,” said Makowicz jokingly
on stage.

The 70 year old pianist was known for his jazz
interpretation on Chopin. The album Reflections
of Chopin that he released in the year
2000 successfully bridged two different musical
genres, jazz and classical. With his impeccable
technique he performed Chopin in a totally
new and fresh composition.